The subject invention concerns an improved stirring member for liquid suspensions in a sealed spray container in the shape of an essentially spheriacal body.
Spray containers holding a liquid suspension comprising a solvent and paint or other products usually contain one or several stirring members which are entended to improve and enhance the mixing of the container contents when the container is shaken, particularly to effect admixture of the solvent and the other product.
Stirring members of this kind should have a weight which is suitable considering the viscosity of the suspension. In addition, they should be sufficiently durable and the material of the members be such that upon their contact with the interior surface of the spray container no material is removed from either the container surface or from the members. Such abraded material would otherwise tend to contaminate the spray liquid and obstruct the spray nozzle.
Hitherto steel balls have been used as stirring members of this kind. These have a suitable weight, are durable and non-abrasive upon their contact with the container material, which often is aluminium. To achieve a sufficient degree of blending of e.g. spray paints it is, however, generally necessary to shake the container very vigorously for at least one minute. The shaking step must be repeated quite often during the painting job in order to maintain the correct mixing proportions between the paint and the solvent. For instance, should the proportion of solvent in the liquid being discharged from the container be too high there is a serious risk that the paint applied to the painted object starts to "run". When paints known as "metallic" which contain reflecting particles are used there is also a considerable risk that the result of the painting job will be unsatisfactory because the reflecting particles become unevenly distributed on the painted surface. Good painting results therefore depend very highly on how often and how thoroughly the spray can is shaken, which obviously is both time-consuming and tedius.